By Chase Hamilton
The abandoned buildings of New York are filled with rats, mold, dim lighting, and just maybe, a kid in your math class.
A group of Murrow students have pushed the boundaries of typical exploration with what they call urban exploring, commonly abbreviated to “urbex,” an activity that gives adventurers the opportunity to discover forgotten places and recapture them.
Almost every weekend, Alex, a senior at Murrow, ventures out to explore abandoned buildings, finding new ones, and returning to ones he’s been to, like the infamous Red Hook Grain terminal in Brooklyn, which has been abandoned since 1965.
“I think there’s something really unique about being able to go to a place not many have been to before,” said Alex. “I also love being outdoors and exploring, and pushing myself to see what I can do, and this is a great way to do that.”
Students say they love it because it’s an activity that gets them outside, involves some risk and leads them to cool locations. Urban exploring has become particularly popular with Murrowites, because of the number of abandoned buildings across the city.
Another urban explorer, Noah, said he takes photos of the sites he visits, a primary allure of urban exploring. The photogenic nature of urbex has caused the activity to trend on social media platforms, where videos are shared of the places explorers go.
Noah said that one of his favorite spots is an abandoned storage facility in Sunset Park.
“I find the location so cool because of what’s inside it,” he said. “It’s an abandoned storage facility, filled with old items, papers, and photos. It’s so cool to see things that you wouldn’t see now, things that date to a time before the internet. A thing I love about all these places I’ve been to is the views from them. With the often broken windows, the sun shines through lighting the place up. Being in these spots with friends is such a good feeling.”
A student, who chose to remain anonymous, prefers the darkness of the New York City Subway to the sunny views from abandoned buildings. The New York subway system is one of the most well known and complex ones in the world, with over 650 miles of track, mostly lying beneath the street underneath our feet.
You can find abandoned buildings in all parts of the world, from cities like New York, to the middle of nowhere. While a fun activity, urban exploring is technically illegal, as it is often considered trespassing.
“One place that is definitely memorable for me is 169th street in Queens, because that was when I first really discovered the trains that are parked inside the tunnels, which is called a layup,” said the anonymous student. “Another cool station I’ve seen is 50th street on the C line, where the old Madison Square Gardens used to be. In the 80s the MTA closed many mezzanines of stations, including ones at 50th street, which I was able to see. It’s really frozen in time.”
Some, however, prefer to approach urbexing with spontaneity. Alex said that when he goes urbexing, he doesn’t really have a plan of action.
“For me it really is just walking around neighborhoods, and discovering them on my own,” he said.
The anonymous explorer has a different approach when it comes to looking for spots.
“Well, most of the spots are known about, they’re marked on maps, and on websites,” said the student. “It’s too bad though, because some of these places are becoming hot spots for explorers, and people don’t always know how to be quiet, and that allows other people to access these places so easily,”
Abandoned buildings are found all over the world, from cities like New York, to the middle of nowhere. While a fun activity, urban exploring is technically illegal, as it is often considered trespassing.
“I found an old poster of a Nokia phone from the early 2000s, in a holographic font, and in great condition, so I did take that,” said Noah, when asked if he ever takes things from the places he goes.
Alex added that his experiences Urbexing can be different every time he goes.
“I keep coming back, because you don’t know what you’ll see next time, and mainly just to make new memories. It’s always fun going back to these places, because something new can always be discovered.”
Note: Due to the sensitive nature of many of the activities referred to in this article, many of the people mentioned have chosen to remain partially or fully anonymous.
Gallery: Urbexing finds, documented by Murrowites.
The Murrow Network 